Designed with Advanced Diagnostics and SENT/PWM Output

January 3, 2017

Allegro MicroSystems, LLC announces a new dual die, highly programmable linear hall sensor IC that is an ideal solution for safety-critical applications. It incorporates full die redundancy with the added benefits of full diagnostics. The combination of these two features allow for a higher level of diagnostics without interruption to the application (where diagnostics would otherwise render a die temporarily nonresponsive). This combination also allows the controller to know which die to trust when the output of the die does not agree. This new device is primarily targeted at the automotive market with end applications to include EPS torque sensing, braking (pedal travel, piston position, brake wear) and transmission actuator/clutch position sensing.

Allegro’s A1346 device has dual high-precision, programmable Hall-effect linear sensor integrated circuits (IC) with open-drain outputs, for both automotive and nonautomotive applications. The signal paths of the A1346 provides flexibility through external programming that allows the generation of accurate and customized outputs from an input magnetic signal. The A1346 is an especially configurable and robust solution for the most demanding linear field sensor applications. The BiCMOS, monolithic integrated circuits incorporate on each system-on-chip (SoC): a Hall sensing element, precision temperature compensating circuitry to reduce the intrinsic sensitivity and offset drift of the Hall element, a small-signal high-gain amplifier, proprietary dynamic offset cancellation circuits, advanced output linearization circuitry, and advanced diagnostic detection. The A1346 provides an unmatched level of customer reprogrammable options.

A key feature of the A1346 is its ability to produce a highly linear device output for nonlinear input magnetic fields. To achieve this, the device features 16-segment customer programmable linearization, where a unique linearization coefficient factor is applied to each segment. Linearization coefficients are stored in a lookup table in EEPROM.

The A1346 contains two proprietary SENT protocols in addition to SAEJ2716: SSENT and ASENT. Both protocols enable the user to attach up to 4 devices on one SENT line to reduce system costs. SSENT provides sequential access to the sensors connected to the same line. SSENT provides a very low overhead method to maximize the sensor bandwidth on this single SENT line, minimizing impact on system performance. ASENT provides random access to all the sensors on the common SENT line. Both protocols allow individual sensors on the same line to enter diagnostic mode while the other sensors continue to respond to queries, allowing for the highest diagnostic coverage while maintaining 100% availability of the sensor solution.

The A1346 is available in a surface-mount, lead (Pb) free 14-pin TSSOP package (LE suffix), with 100% matte-tin leadframe plating.